Health bill battle nears fever pitch

Conservative protesters blast proposal ahead of House vote this weekend

November 06, 2009|By Janet Hook and Noam N. Levey, Tribune Newspapers

WASHINGTON — With the historic House vote on health care barely 48 hours away, battle lines hardened and rhetoric sharpened Thursday when thousands of conservatives and anti-government protesters swarmed Capitol Hill to oppose Democrats' $1 trillion overhaul even as two powerful lobby groups for doctors and seniors endorsed the legislation.

"Kill the bill! Kill the bill!" thousands chanted outside the Capitol, some having traveled on short notice from as far as California and Texas to protest what they saw as tantamount to socialized medicine. "No Marx. No Mao," one protest sign read. "No socialized anything," read another.

Meantime, officials of AARP and the American Medical Association publicly endorsed the Democrats' health care overhaul.

The endorsement by the AARP was prized because the seniors lobby is an electoral powerhouse and it has been skeptical of the Democrats' proposals to reduce spending on Medicare. The AMA's support was a marked turnaround for a group that played a leading role in stymieing past efforts to change the health care system.

The public pressure provided a dramatic background for Democratic leaders' last-minute efforts to nail down a solid majority for their overhaul plan, which is now scheduled to be laid before the House for debate Saturday -- with a vote expected later that day.

President Barack Obama is slated to address the House Democratic Caucus on Friday as part of the final push for votes.

The angry voices of opposition echoed conservative protests that have been increasingly heard this year, including at anti-tax "Tea Party" rallies, a major Washington demonstration on Sept. 12 and summer congressional town hall meetings on health care.

While the rally assembled in front of the Capitol to hear from House Republicans was peaceful, Capitol Police arrested 21 anti-abortion activists and others inside House and Senate office buildings on disorderly conduct and related charges.

A number of Republicans have tried to keep their distance from the Tea Party movement because of some activists' divisive rhetoric -- such as protest signs seen Thursday linking Obama and the health care bill to Nazi Germany.

Nonetheless, dozens of House Republicans, including top party leaders, embraced the cause by appearing on the steps of the Capitol to address the crowd and denounce Obama and the health bill.

House Republican leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, called the health care bill "the biggest threat to freedom I have seen in the 19 years I've been here in Washington." The crowd's biggest cheers were for Rep. Michelle Bachman, R-Minn., a second-term icon of grass-roots conservatives.

No House Republican is expected to vote for the bill, so Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been laboring to gain the 218 votes she needs from her party's ranks to pass the bill.

The bill's endorsement by the doctors' and seniors' lobby groups, in addition to support announced Tuesday by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, helps counter mounting opposition among employer groups.

The AMA's support for the House bill comes ahead of a critical policymaking meeting of its House of Delegates in Houston that begins Saturday. The organization is being asked by some constituencies to back away from supporting the health care overhaul.

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Center stage

Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., spurred on Thursday's rally with a call on cable television for opponents of the health care bill to make a Washington "House call."

A few tidbits about Bachmann:

*Elected in 2006, she supports earmark reform and tax relief

*She and her husband, Marcus, own a small mental health care practice; they have five children and have had 23 foster children